High chair attachment



March 25, 1958 D. M. JONES L 2,827,953

" HIGH CHAIR ATTACX-MENT' Filed 00;. 11 1954 y B I 3 'WI 9 V v TORNEYSUnited States Parent HIGH CHAIR ATTACHMENT Darlene M. Jones, San Pablo,Calif. Application October 11, 1954, Serial No. 461,537

6 Claims. (Cl. 155-188) This invention relates to attachments for highchairs and the like, and is more particularly directed towards a devicewhich may be positioned on a high chair so as to receive food, liquid orother objects which may be dropped by the occupant of the chair.

Between the ages of approximately eight months and three years, a childis normally placed in a high chair for his feedings, as in this mannerthe child is relatively fastened in position at a level which isconvenient for the adult to care for him. However, notwithstanding theprovision of a tray on such chairs, a young child during the course of ameal or other feeding will invariably, either deliberately oraccidentally, cause quantities of food or liquid to drop from the trayonto the floor. This ob viously requires time consuming effort to cleanthe floor adjacent the chair after each feeding.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide anattachment for a high chair which is adapted to catch and retain bothliquid and solid objects which may be dropped by the chair occupant orby the person feeding the occupant.

Another object of my invention is to provide a device of the characterdescribed which is simple in construction and which may be readilyattached to and removed from a conventional high chair withoutinterfering with the normal use thereof.

A further object of this invention is to provide a guard attachment ofthe above type which completely encompasses the chair so thatirrespective of which portion of the chair the material has fallen from,the material will be trapped before falling to the ground.

The invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, some ofwhich, with the foregoing, will be set forth in the followingdescription of the preferred form of the invention which is illustratedin the drawing accompanying and forming part of the specification. It isto be understood, however, the variations in the showing made by thesaid drawing and description may be adopted within the scope of theinvention as set forth in the claims.

Referring to said drawing:

Figure 1 is a front perspective view of a high chair equipped with theattachment of the present invention.

Figure 2 is a cross-sectional elevational view with the chair portionsindicated by dash-dot lines.

Figure 3 is a cross-sectional plan view taken substantially in the planeindicated by line 33 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a portional cross-sectional view, similar to Figure 2, butillustrating a modified form of my invention.

The attachment of this invention, generally indicated by the numeral 6is particularly adapted for installation on a high chair 7, best seen inFigure 1 of the drawing. As is well known in the art, a conventionalhigh chair will include a seat 8, a plurality of legs 9, a back 12, armrests 13, and a tray 14 supported on the rests. The chair may further beprovided with a foot rest 16, usually pivotally carried by the forwardportion of the seat. While this construction serves numerous usefulpurposes, there ice is nothing to prevent the annoying spillage of foodand the like from the chair to the floor on which it is supported.

By means of the attachment 6, the foregoing difficulty is eliminated asthe attachment when in its operative position on the chair will catchand retain both solid and liquid objects falling from the tray. 14 orfrom the hands or mouth of the child heated in the chair. Broadlyspeaking, the attachment includes a central portion 17 adapted toencircle the legs 9 subjacent the seat and an integral upwardly andoutwardly diverging portion 18 extending from the lower edge of portion17. Thus, the portions 17 and 18 cooperate to define a substantiallycontinuous V-shaped trough 19 for receiving and retaining the spilledmaterial.

Preferably, portions 17 and 18 are constructed of an easily cleanablepliant plastic material such as vinylite, and means are provided topermit the portions to assume their above described positions on thechair. Portion 17 is formed of a generally rectangular piece of materialwith an upper edge 21 and ends 22 adapted to be secured together by anysuitable means such as snap fasteners 23. Portion 18 may be formedintegrally with or is preferably secured to the lower edge of portion 17from which it then extends upwardly and outwardly in a cone-shapedmanner to an upper edge 24 which may be slightly below the level of the.tray. Although the upper edge 24 is shown in the drawing :as defining agenerally rectangular outline, it could likewise be made. oval orcircular without departing from thescope of this invention. The end-s 26of portions 18 are similarto ends 22 and are releasably secured togetherby additional snap fasteners 27. It will be appreciated that while mosthigh chairs have a substantially uniform leg spacing, a smalldifferential in the latter might render portion 17. too loose and permitthe entire unitto slide downwardly from its normal position wherein edge21 is substantially immediately adjacent the lower surface of seat 8. Toassure a tight fit, I provide a plurality of draw strings 31 adjacentthe upper and lower edges of portion 17 which may be tightened after thedevice is positioned on the chair. A similar draw string 32 may, ifdesired, be positioned at upper edge 24 of portion 18, and any number ofintermediate strings may likewise be utilized.

In view of the fact that, the portions 17 and 18 are of a soft pliantmaterial, stiffening means must be provided to cause portion 18 toassume the position illustrated in the drawing. Preferably, this may beaccomplished by providing continuous sealed pockets 36, 37 and 38 at thebottom, middle and top of the portion, such pockets containing entrappedair. Similar vertically extending pockets 39 are provided, and it hasbeen found that this combination, while deformable under a load, willcause the portion to retain its desired generally conical configuration.

In Figure 4, a slight modified stiifening arrangement is disclosedwherein instead of entrapped air wire 41 or the like is connected to thepliant material. The wire is also capable of limited distortion tofacilitate installing and removing the attachment while still performingits major funtcion of keeping portion 18 in its extended form.

From the foregoing description, it will be appreciated that to installthe unit, the fasteners 23 and 27 are opened and portion 17 is wrappedaround the chair legs 9, the snaps secured and the draw stringstightened. This will provide a continuous trough 19 of upwardlydiverging cross-sectional form completely around the seat and tray ofthe chair so as to receive articles falling from the latter. However,where liquid has fallen, the same must be prevented from running out ofthe trough at the ends 22 and 26 of the respective portions.Accordingly, at each end of each of the portions, the material is foldedback 3 as indicated at 46 so that the liquid will be confined within thetrough.' I i While the above described device is simple and economicalto produce and may be incorporated on a high chair without interferingwith the normal use of thechair, it is' believ'ed that c'ouiitles's'hou'rs of annoying floorcleaning a c'tivi'ties may be eliminated by itsuse.

What isclaimed is:

1. A11 attachment for a highchair having a first portion a'daptedroencompass the legs of the chair substantially immediately below thechair seat, and a second portion attached to'the lower edge of saidfirst portion and thence extending outwardly and upwardly therefrom todefine a trough'i'sub'stantially encompassing said chair, each of saidportions being substantially impervious to water whereby a continuouswater-containing open-top receptacle for liquidextends completely aroundsaid chair.

2. An attachment for a high chair having a seat and a plurality of legssupporting said seat comprising: a first generally rectangular pliantmember having an upper edge, a lower edge and end portions, said memberbeing adapted to encompass'said legs with the upper edge thereofadjacent said seat, a second pliant member having an upper edge a'ndendportions aligned with said first mentioned end portions'and a lower edgeintegrally associated with the lower edge of said first member, meansfor releasably securing the respective ends of said first and secondmembers together, the upper edge of said second member having a greaterperipheral length than the lower edge thereof and being positioned abovethe upper edge of said first member, said members defining a troughextending around said chair for catching and retaining material fallingtherein.

3. Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 in which said first member whenmounted on said legs assumes a generally rectangular form, and saidsecond member assumes an outwardly and upwardly diverging form.

4. A device for catching articles falling from the tray of a high chairwhich comprises a substantially unitary member having a first verticallydisposed central portion adapted to encompass and be secured to a highchair and a second portion extending outwardly and upwardly fromadjacent the lower edge of said first portion to define with said firstportion a horizontally extending trough extending completely around saidchair for receiving spilled material from said chair.

5. A device for catching articles falling from the tray of a high chairwhich comprises a substantially unitary member having a first verticallydisposed central portion adapted to encompass and be secured to a highchair substantially immediately subjacent the seat thereof and above thebottom of the chair legs and a second portion extending outwardly andupwardly from adjacent the lower edge of said first portion to definewith said first portion a continuous horizontally extending trough forreceiving spilled material from said chair, each of said portions havinggenerally aligned end portions, and means for releasably securing therespective end portions together to provide a complete enclosure aroundsaid chair. I

6. A device as set forth in claim 5 in which said end portions areprovided with substantially vertically extending means for preventingfiowable material from passing out of saidtrough at said end portions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS924,554

Jackson June 8, 1909 1,050,205 Conley Ian. 14, 1913 1,377,860 Thomas May10, 1921 2,423,159 Shockey July 1, 1947 2,540,685 Mayer Feb. 6, 19512,577,274 Sampson Dec. 4, 1951 2,585,434 Caponera Feb. 12, 19522,607,052 Le Roy Aug. 19, 1952 2,608,696

Le Roy Sept. 2, 1952

